Possibility of UTVs on Lincoln Street explored further by City Council

The question of whether to allow utility task vehicles (UTVs) on Lincoln Street, tabled at the April 27 meeting to gather more information, topped the agenda at the nearly two-hour meeting of the Rhinelander Common Council on Monday, May 11.

UTVs and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are currently allowed on all city streets except Lincoln.

Former Rhinelander mayor Chris Frederickson raised the topic in the public comment portion of the meeting. “I’m here to encourage you to make a good decision when it comes to the four-wheelers,” he told the gathering. 

“(ATVs and UTVs) traveling down Stevens Street, we put that into action back when I was the mayor. (When first enacting ordinance in 2019 allowing ATVs and UTVs on city streets) we eliminated the two, Stevens Street and Lincoln Street, just basically because of blinker issues. We weren’t going to make four-wheelers come to town and have blinkers on them to be able to change lanes, because other than that, they were deemed safe,” he said.

“That being the case, Stevens Street, before I even left (in 2022), we made that one accessible to four-wheelers because there was no issues at that point.

“I know our police department and our fire department, which takes care of people who are in accidents, will tell you Lincoln Street is probably by far the most traveled one in our city and also somewhat recklessly by our guests that come to town and think it’s a race to where they need to go,” he added. “That being the case, I do believe in the economic advantage of having those four-wheelers on that street. So I just encourage you to do what your heart tells you, but I don’t believe there’s been an accident so far.”

With the information requested at the council’s previous regular meeting having been gathered, the question was back on the agenda for discussion and action this time. 

Police chief Josh Chiamulera had gathered data as requested. 

“When it started in 2019, I thought that ATV/UTVs were going to be more of a headache for us, and they really haven’t been,” he reported. “… The main one is going to be the operating without a valid driver’s license because we still need that in the city limits. And I can only locate 17 tickets that we’ve ever issued for it.

“I can only locate five OWIs we’ve ever had on ATV/UTVs. And most of them, I can’t say all of them because I don’t think it is, but most of them involved some sort of crash or falling off the machine. So there have been injuries from that.

“The non-registration is another one that we’ve enforced. The no insurance on them is another one we’ve enforced. I know we’ve written speeding tickets on them, some at pretty high speeds. I can remember one, I think it was 55, 60 miles per hour on Timber by Baird.

“ …Those are really the only statistics I can pull from the city stuff. I can go on to the DNR website and tell you that when an accident happens on an ATV and a UTV, from the data, it’s showing that you will be injured.” 

He said 2024 data showed a slightly higher number of injuries than accidents, roughly 316 and 311, “showing that even passengers on the machines are being injured as well. But that’s really all I can tell you.”

Alderman Steven Jopek had a question for him. “I did some research. UTVs are not crash-tested like a standard vehicle. It would take one person getting decimated in one of those right there at that intersection by my house for me to regret instantly voting for this,” said Jopek. “ … What would be your comparison between Stevens Street and Lincoln Street for accident totals?”

“I’m just going to throw a number out there, probably five times the traffic on Lincoln Street than we do on Stevens,” Chiamulera told him. “This is just an exceptional year for accidents. I’d say right now we’re handling close to five a day in the city, so it’s very busy with all the extra traffic coming through.”

“So that’s kind of my one concern, is that I do think intrinsically there is a difference between Stevens and Lincoln for accident potential,” Jopek said. “I don’t think that the roll cages and stuff are built for that kind of contact, like if there were to be an accident. And so I can’t, you know, kind of go on with the former mayor’s recommendation of voting with your conscience. That’s kind of where I’m at.”

He had some statistics to share from what he said was the 2024 UTV fatalities list from the Consumer Federation of America.

“By road type in Wisconsin, or according to this federal report, 48 on-road deaths compared to 20 off-road deaths,” Jopek said. “So 62 percent of fatalities in UTVs occur on public roads, on-road, not off-road, despite, I would say, probably the overwhelming majority of UTV traffic being off-road.” 

He added that 81 percent of those are single vehicle crashes, 13 percent are crashes with an on-road vehicle, and only one percent are with another off-road vehicle.

Alderman Gerald Anderson voiced concern that UTVs are not required to have turn signals. “If they hit something or something hits them, either way causes more problem than hitting a car,” he said. He also pointed out that there was no difference in the definition of an ATV and UTV in the city’s ordinance.

City attorney Steve Sorensen suggested that the purpose of the evening’s discussion be to figure out what clarifications are needed. “We’re not voting on anything tonight, so just tell us what you’re looking for, and we can clarify it,” he said.

Mayor Kris Hanus turned the floor over to former mayor Frederickson, who he noted “actually wrote a lot of this.”

“First of all,” Frederickson explained, “the reason this even came across our desk had to do with outdoor recreational marketing. Sixty percent of the state’s UTV users are on the trails in this corner of the state, which didn’t have a place to go or eat or stay other than campgrounds to recreate … Do have an understanding that when those recreation trails finally attach to Rhinelander with county roads, we will be the biggest destination as far as for people coming to a hotel and then getting on a trail and going.”

Alderman Bob Lueder moved that the city’s current ordinance be amended to clearly describe the differences between the ATV and the UTV, and that the last sentence of the ordinance be removed that restricts them from Lincoln Street. He was seconded by board president Carrie Mikalauski.

Concerns were raised about coupling the two changes in one motion and vagueness about when the changes would take effect.

“It’s not on the agenda tonight to vote on,” said Sorensen. “ … So just for clarification … number one, you want to see a stronger delineation between UTV and ATV. Number two, you wanted to have a timeframe somewhere in the ordinance, whether it starts immediately, starts in January, starts next summer. Number three, you want a separation is what you’re talking about. But finally, I see the last one is if you want to remove Lincoln Street or not.” 

“Those are all the elements that I heard you discuss that you’d want to see, and we can bring the alternatives to you and you can put Humpty Dumpty together however you want,. We’ll put an ordinance that we think would be acceptable and you can adjust that ordinance however you want. If that’s acceptable to you … just give us instruction to go ahead and do it.”

Lueder and Mikalauski withdrew their motion and second, and Sorensen’s interpretation of what the council is looking for, with alternative paragraphs to choose from in creating the updated ordinance, will be brought back to the council at a future meeting. 

Ardith Carlton may be reached at [email protected].